Global Traveller: May 2011

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur... again! It's nice to be back in Asia.

Since my last update our remaining time in Brisbane turned to rain, cloud and cold temperatures. That was a bit of a shock as I wasn't expecting it to be that cold so far north in Australia. We made the most of our time but all in all I think we spent a bit too long in Brisbane. After 3 days we had done everything so to spend 7 days there was enough. We had one night out and we spent $100 each on just a few drinks and getting in a club. At the end of the night one of the drinks was stolen by the bar staff as they 'cleared up'. They neglected to look at the contents of the glass otherwise they would have seen it was half full! So that was the end of our one and only expensive night out in Brisbane.

The pool in Cairns

We left Brisbane and we were stung for $40 for a 15 minute journey to the airport. The taxi prices are crazily high all over Australia but we had missed the opportunity to get the mini bus for $14 because we booked too late. Our own fault I suppose! The airport looks remarkably like East Midlands, which was a bit odd. From there we flew to Cairns; back to a tropical environment.

Flying into Cairns was crazy; there were high mountains very close on the right side and the ocean on the left. The mountains looked a little too close to me! It was very lush and green; very tropical Asia looking. On the bus into Cairns, it felt like we were in a different country compared to Sydney, Taree and Brisbane.

Flying into Carins

Our first few days in Cairns were lazy ones, sunbathing by the pool. On the 29th April the Royal Wedding was on TV. I didn't really want to watch it, but after the Australian news had been going on about it for weeks, I got completely sucked in and watched the whole thing, getting smashed on Strongbow in the process. It was actually quite nice watching London on the TV and all the crowds that had turned out. All in all, I'm glad I watched it, although the hangover the next day was not very welcome!

As it was out last week in Australia, we hired a car and decided to head up the coast to Port Douglas and to a crocodile farm. I have always wanted to do a Pacific Coast drive and to get to Port Douglas we had to take the Captain Cook Highway along the coast. It was amazing and it was everything I had ever expected and more. The road was clinging to the cliffs; the scenery was dramatic where the mountains met the sea and there were lots of secluded, untouched beaches along the way. Put simply, it was well worth every second and it was one of the highlights of my trip to Australia.

Crocodile feeding

At the crocodile farm, I was amazed to see how big these things actually are! They were huge and all laying out in the sun warming up. Part of the day included a river cruise around the park whereby the park wardens would feed the crocodiles by hanging chicken off a pole and dangling it over the side of the boat. The crocodiles would leave the river bank and swim over and jump out of the water to catch their dinner. It was incredible to watch as they jumped a huge height out of the water. We also saw Kuala Bears, Kangaroos, Wallabies, Eagles and Snakes which made me feel like I had done the full Australian experience.

Whilst we were in Australia, Dave was offered a place to play at Luna Bar in Kuala Lumpur where he had played back in March. We decided to head back there and spend some time in Asia again. The time came to leave Australia and we had a long journey ahead, 26 hours! We had 4 hours transit in Darwin and another 10 hours in Singapore. This was the cheapest option so we took it. After all, we are travellers so sometimes hanging around airports for hours at a time just has to be done.

Trinity Beach in Queensland

When we arrived in Darwin, we were ushered into a tiny room. We assumed that there would be a restaurant, shops and generally something to do to pass the time. However this was not the case. The room was merely a holding room for transit passengers. When I asked a member of staff if we could leave to look around, I was met with 'you left Australia in Cairns' followed by a smug grin and the closing of the door! What a cheeky cow.

After arriving in Singapore, we had heard that there was a transit hotel available, whereby you could hire a room for 6 hours to get some rest before any onward flight. There was a dilemma though. If we wanted to book a room, we had to remain in the arrivals area of the airport, however our bags were on the other side through immigration. If we went through immigration, this meant no hotel room for the night... Hmmmm what to do? After asking the receptionist at the hotel he simply said 'just leave your bags and they will be with lost and found in the morning'.

Koala Bear

After taking some time to get some food and decide if we were comfortable enough leaving our bags for the night, an hour had passed. So we though that by this time our bags would already be off the carousel so we took the plunge and hired the room. When woke up at 4am, my heart sank when I remembered where our bags were. We checked out and headed to immigration and then onto lost and found. When we arrived, our bags were sat there with a pile of other bags. The agent at the counter didn't even care which bags we took so we picked them up and left to check in for our next flight! Wow, Im so glad we left them and managed to get some sleep for the night. 10 hours sleeping in the check-in lounge is a bit hardcore!

Cheapest Sangria's ever at 70p!

Well here we are back in Kuala Lumpur. We have only been here 2 weeks so far and we have certainly seen a lot more this time than we did before thanks to our new freind Bee who works at the hotel Dave is DJing at. Bee met up with us and showed us the trendy drinking areas, where to eat, where to shop and also where to mingle with the ex-pats. Its amazing what a bit of local knowledge can do! Kuala Lumpur is a mix of authentic Malaysian life blended with full western culture, it's such a huge contrast to see.

Kangaroo warnings!

This last week has seen another reunion with our fellow traveler Chloe. We have crossed paths four times now and that is without planning to! Chloe arrived in the early afternoon and after catching up on the last month's antics the booze soon came out, we were on it and it was only 4pm! Dave played his second gig at Luna Bar and we got pretty pissed up. That night a group of us ended back at our apartment drinking and chatting until 5.30am. What a great night.

Chloe has headed back to northern Malaysia as she is planning to be home for mid June. It feels strange talking about home because it has always seemed such a long way off. Yet, here we are in May, soon heading into June. Just where has the time gone?

So goodbye for now, just where we are heading is not certain yet, Im sure you will find out on my next blog!